Khaki Campbell Duck Breed – Everything You Need to Know

The Khaki Campbell may be a bit high strung and temperamental. But this duck will lay a lot of large nutritious eggs for the table. They make quite an excellent roast duck as well.

Not only are they prolific layers that have tasty meat, but they are exceptionally adaptive to various climates. They can withstand dessert temperatures to the English cold winter chills.
They are excellent foragers that are independent, and they actually prefer to find their own food.

If they are fed correctly and given enough space to forage about in, they can be quite a calm bird. With enough handling, they are quite tame and pleasant. But as a highly energetic bird, they do need a bit more space than most ducks. They also do not do well in very large flocks.

APPEARANCE / IDENTIFICATION

HISTORY

The Campbell breed of duck was developed in England in the late 1800’s by Mrs. Adele Campbell. At the time Mrs. Campbell resided in Gloucestershire and wanted to be able to provide her family with an adequate supply of roast duck.

At the time Mrs. Campbell had Fawn and White Indian Runner ducks as well as Rouen ducks. Indian Runner ducks are known to be very good egg layers. The Rouen has a nice sized body as her goal was to create a duck breed that would lay a great number of eggs and have a large body for good meat.

The cross of the Indian Runner ducks and the Rouen created the first Campbell ducks. These ducks went on to become one of the world’s greatest egg laying ducks. They will lay between 250 to 340 large eggs that are known for the exceptional flavor and texture. They also have sought after meat that is of good quality and is really tasty.

Originally these first Campbell ducks were introduced to English society in 1898. But these Campbells did not have a very good feather coloring and were said to resemble Mallards that color was poor and maybe a bit faded.

In the 1800’s around the time, the Campbell was released into society buff colored poultry feathers were the favored color variety.

In an attempt to give her Campbells a makeover and better coloring Mrs. Campbell crossed these Campbell ducks with her Penciled Runner ducks. The result was the unique coloring of the Khaki Campbell. Not quite buff and not quite fawn or brown. The coloring of the ducks reminded Mrs. Campbell of the uniforms worn by the military back them. So the new color variations of the Campbells were named Khaki Campbells after the soldier’s uniforms.

The first Campbells were imported to the United States in 1929. There were accepted into the Standard of Perfection by the American Poultry Association in 1941. Although there are a few color varieties of the Campbell only the Khaki variety is recognized by the American Poultry Association.

Health

They have no known or major health issues

• Ducks need water to ensure they do not get “wet feather” disease. This is where the preening gland dries out. Water also stops them from getting pests such as mites, fleas, ticks, lice, etc.
• Well, fed ducks should hardly have any health issues.
• Any birds kept in a flock need to be dewormed. Although ducks are not as prone as other poultry they should still have a de-worming regime. Speak to a local vet or poultry experts for advice. Our article on Healthy Ducks has some great tips and advice on de-worming ducks.

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